Flying-machine



7 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

N. H. BORGPELDT. FLYING MACHINE.

Patented Oct. 1, 1889.

K Inn/58853.- www jafwgy s v ATTOHIVEYJ N. PETERS. Phewuinogmpmr. Mmmm'.D. c.

7 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

N. H. BORGFBLDT. FLYING MACHINE. No. 411,779. Y Patented Oct. 1, 1889.

ITA/8858.' Inn/Emol? W' M www @y r Q4 a', /fmm MMM.

. Arrow/Ey;

(No Model.) Y 'z sheets-sheet 4. N. H. BORGPELDT.

n FLYING MACHINE.

Patented Oct. 1889:

TNESSES: E y /VEIVTOI? TTOHVEYJ 7 Sheets-Sheet 5.

(No Model.) N, H. BORGFELDT. FLYING MACHINE. No. 411,779. Patentd Oct.1, i889.

N. PETERS. Plwioumngmpmr. Imm-glo. D. C.

(N0-Model.) '1 snee1-,s-L-111eet'6.Y

N. H. BORGFELDT.

FLYING MACHINE.

y 110.411.779. 1 Patented Oct. 1, 1889. F371@ I TTU/ME75 kN. paens.mwmmmmpm. washing u c;

(No Model.) 7 Sheets-Sheet 7. N. H. BORGFELDT.

FLYING MACHINE.

' Patented 001. 1,1889..

NA PETERS. Fluimlx'wgmher, Washington, D, C

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

YNICHOLAS H. BORGFELDT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

FLYING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 411,779, dated October1, 1889.

Application filed November 3, 1888. Serial No. 289,878. (No model.)

T0 all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS H. BORG- FELDT, a resident of Brooklyn, inthe county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new andImproved Flying-Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, inwhich* Figure l represents a perspective view of mymimproved iiying-machine Fig. 2 is a plan or top View of the lower part or car thereof.Fig..2" is a side view of the front portion of said car. Fig. 3 is anenlarged top view of the rear or stern portion of said car. Fig. si is aside view thereof. Fig. 4 is a detail bottom view of the rudder. Fig. 5is a detail side viewof part of the wingactuating mechanism. Fig. 6 is adetail section on the line c c, Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a verticalcross-section of the car, showing also the lower part of the balloon.Fig. 8 is an enlarged plan view of one of the wings used in theflyingmachine. Fig. 9 is a still more enlarged face view of one of thesails of said wing. Fig. lO is a side view ot' one of the cross-bracesat the end of the wing. Fig. l1 is a perspective View of one of thestiffeners in the end of the sail. Fig. 12 is a detail face view of oneof the crossbraces of the wing. Fig. 13 is an enlarged view of one endof a wing. 1i is a perspective view of several of the wings while movingdownward. Fig. l5 is a similar perspective view of several wings whilemoving upward, and Fig. 16 is a detail view showing how the sails' inthe wing are laced together.

This invention relates to a new flying apparatus so constructed that itmay conveniently be moved up into and along in the atmospheric strataand used on water it necessary.

The apparatus to be described differs from balloons and flyingapparatuses heretofore proposed in that it shall be so balanced that theballoon connected therewith will be incapable of elevating the car andthe contents thereof by its own buoyancy, the wings being required tocause the whole apparatus to rise.

The invention consists of the sundry details of improvement that arehereinafter more fully specified.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter A represents a car or mainvessel of my improved flying apparatus.

B is a cigarshaped balloon, from which the car A is suspended by ropes oa, that extend to a covering l2 of the balloon, as is more clearlyindicated in Fig. l of the drawings.

G O are a series of wings arranged at the sides of the car and int-endedto propel the same through the air. Fig. l shows twelve such wings oneach side of the car; but their number may of course be increased ordecreased at will. The several wings O O are connected to theactuating-rods d d, that extend laterally from the car, the series oi'rods on each side of the car being at their inner ends-that is, withinthe body of the car-connected by a long handle-bar D. At the edge oi thecar A where the rods d rest on. the car, they are hinged thereto, as atein the drawings. Thus a person standing on the iioor of the car, as isrepresented in Fig. '7 of the drawings, and grasping the two handle-barsD D will be enabled to move them up and down, and thereby to move thewings C C from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 7 into theposition shown by dotted lines in the same ligure. inasmuch as thedownward stroke of each wing is intended to be the effective stroke, theoperators may be assisted in quickly getting the wings raised foranother downward stroke by the use of spring-bands f, which unite thehandlebars to the car, as is shown in Fig. 7 of the drawings, and whichbands also serve to balance the wings.

I have represented in the drawings the handle-bars D D as adapted to beworked by nien standing on the platform or iioor of the car, theapparatus shown being adapted, as Fig. l represents, to hold sixoperators, whose combined efforts are used to move the wings up anddown; but, instead of human agency, machinery may be employed forraising and lowering the handle-bars D D, and thus moving the wings thesame as they would be moved by human agency. The rods d d, that extendlaterally from the car and hold the wings, are pivoted in thehinge-pieces eby long rods g, as shown; but separate pivotpins may beemployed, one for each rod d.

For the purpose of making an operative lying=machine in accordance withthis inven- IDO' outer ends of said rods d are further bracedV in pairsby intermediate braces h, as in Fig. 13, that are tied at their endstothe rods d (l, between which they are placed. The outermost ends ofthe rods d d are united to a wire rope or flexible stay E, which, asFig. 3 shows, extends also to the end of the car, a spring t' being, ifdesired, interposed in each wire rope E, for the purpose of renderingthe same more thoroughly flexible when that should be necess'ary.

A traverse j may be connected to the end of the car, as in Fig. 3, tohelp hold the end of each wire rope E in proper position, the point ofconnection of the rope ends E and car-body being in line with thehinge-centers c.

From what has been described it will `be perceived that. the rods d d oneach side of the car A are properly united to the handlebars ancLto thesundry braces heretofore alluded to, so that they will be movedsimultaneously whenever their handle-bar is moved up and down. Betweenevery two rods d d there is a wing'C. This wing, as the detail views,Figs. 8 to 13, more fully show, is composed of sundry sails 7s 7a2 7c3,the., Figs. 8 and 13 showing six sails to each wing; but the number ofsuch sails may be varied. It will be perceived also, from an inspectionof Figs.

8 and 13, that the sails of each wing are united only to one rod d, andnot to both of the rods between which the wing is placed. This junc-Vtion is made with the aid of ropes, wires, or cords, as is shown moreclearly in Figs. 13 and 16. Thus the sail 7c nearest one rod d is tiedthereto by a cord Z, that passes through holes in the sail and thenaround the rod CZ,

` and 'is then looped over the part passed through the sail, and so on,as is clearly rcpresented in Fig. 1G.

passes through holes in the sail 7a2 and is looped around the cordl inmanner represented in Fig. 13 and partly shown, also, in Fig. 1G. Thenext sail 7a3, is joined to 7a2 by a cord Z3,'looped over the cord l2 inthe saine manner in which the cord Z2 is looped over the cord l, and soalong with all the sails of each wing, each sail being by a cord, suchas has been shown and described, united at one edge to the cord holdingthe adjoining sail in position, & c. The outer ends of the sails karelaid around stiffener-bars m., which by loops n are, near the fast orlaced edge of each sail, united to the brace h, as appears clearly froman inspection of Fig. 13 of the drawings. Fig. 11 represents one ofthese stiffenenbar's The next adjoining sail k2 is united to the sail kby a cord Z2, which t m and its loop fn in perspective view. The

inner end of each sail is by two loops 0 0 united to a rod p, which isconnected by springs q to the rod g, as in Fig. S, or to the bar w ofthe car that holds the hinges e. It will be seen that eachl sail, beingheld by its own cord Z only near one edge and free at the other edge, isfree to move from the flat position, where one sail overlaps 4the other,(see Fig. 14,) into the open position. (See Fig. 15.) It will also beclear that, each sail being held near its in'ner end by two loops 0,while at its outer end it is held by a single loop n, the outer portionof each wing has a greater degree of flexibility than the inner, andthat the sails will be more Stifflyheld by the double loops at theirinner ends than by the single loops at their outer ends, the tendency ofthe double inner loops being to hold the sails there nearer to theoverlapping position. The outer braces 7L of the wings may be stayed bycords, wires, or rods r fr diagonally to the respective rods d d, as inFig. 13.

The body of the car A is by preference made to resemble the skeleton ofa ship with raised bow and stern and with a bottom platform s, on whichthe men or -machinery for operating the wings can stand. To this bottomplatform are secured long hollow cylinders F F, that are .filled withair or the like, to be used as oats for preventing the car from sinkingin case it should strike water. At the stern of the car is hingedthereto a suitable air-rudder G, which can be worked by rudder-chains t,leading to treadles u, as in Fig. 2,so that bydepressing one of thesetreadles the rudder G may be swung to one side,while by depressing theother treadle it will be swung tothe opposite side; but other well- IOOknown means for swinging the rudder in the I desired manner may beemployed. Near the stern the raised portion of the car has a hole fu,through which, in case of necessity,aships rudder l-I can be insertedfor steering the car` on water should it touch the same.

The operation of this dying-machine is substantially as follows: It issupposed to be so ballasted that the balloon B will be incapable oflifting the car and its occupants from the ground. The wings will beneeded to bring about the desired elevation. Whenever the wings areraised, as in Fig. l5, the sails open, so that they will passconveniently through the air; but when the wings are moved down IIO thesails close, as in` Fig. 14, thereby constihave a tendency ofeleva-t-ing the car, and at the same time they are inclined or bulged,so that the elevating motion will also be a for- Ward motion entirelyanalogous to the action of a birds wing in the act of iiying. Nheneverthe Wings are raised and the sails made to open, as in Fig. l5, theirinclination, owing to each sail being fast at one longitudinal edgeonly, Will be such during the elevating movement as to also assist inimparting to the car or vessel a forward movement. The ilexibility ofthe rods d assists materially in the proper operation of the Wings andin bringing about the result which experiments have demonstrated-viz.,that of moving a substantially though not quite buoyant body through theair with the aid of sails that are free to open and overlap and tobulge, being fast along one longitudinal edge only.

The raised ends of the car-body A are inade springy, so that in case thesaine should strike ground or Water they Will yield, and thus preventaccidents that Would happen if the car-body were made substantiallyrigid. The springs q at the inner ends of the sails assist materially inbringing about the opening and overlapping and the bulging positions towhich reference has heretofore been made.

Having n ow described iny invention, what I claim is l. In aflying-machine, the combination of a car-body With a series oflaterally-projecting flexible rods (l d, and a series of Wings C C,arranged between said rods, each of said wings being attached to one ofsaid rods only, substantially as and for the purpose described. V

2. In a iiyingmaohine, the combination of the laterally-extendingflexible rods d with the series of sails k k2 k3, rte., arranged betweensaid rods to constitute Wings C, each of said sails being fastened, onaline parallel to said rods d, directly to one of the rods d only andalong one longitudinal edge only, all for the purpose of enabling thesails to overlap and open alternately, and also to bulge, substantiallyas specified.

3. The combination of the car-bodyA With the laterally-projectingflexible rods d d, the handle-bars D, and outer continuous ilexiblebraces E, with the wings @,placed between said rods d, each wing beingfastened to one of the two rods only between which it is placed,substantially as herein shown and described.

llQThe Wing C, composed of sailslc lf2 k3, 85o., and of the cords 'L Z2Z3, duc., each sail having a single loop n at the outer end and severalloops o 0 at the inner end, substantially as herein shown and described.

5. The combination of the ilexible wingrods d d, with theirconnecting-bar D, at the inner ends connecting-rope E, at the outer endsconnectingbrace h, near their outer ends sails k k2 k3, dsc., their endloops 'a 0 o, inner rod p, for connecting with the loops 0 o, andsprings vgj, holding the rod p, substantially as and for the purposedescribed.

6. The Wing C, composed of sails l.: k2 k3, dac., that are held alongone longitudinal edge only, in combination with the springs q at theinner ends of said sails, acting longitudinally on the same, asdescribed.

7. The combination of the Wings C, each having for its base one straightflexible rod d, which is hinged to the car-body,with the car body andwith the outer continuous exible brace E, that connects with the rods dand with the car-body, as described..

8. The pivoted wing-rods d d, combined with the car-body A and with theouter flexible brace E, Whose ends are joined to the carbody atpointsaligned with the hinge-centers e of the rods d, as specified.

NICHOLAS l-l. BORGFELDT.

Witnesses:

GUsrAv SCHNEPPE, HARRY M. TURK.

